Analysis of Japanese Consumers’ Purchasing Behavior and Preference by Origin of Bell Peppers

This study aims to analyze the information about the bell pepper market in Japan in order to help Korean farmers promote their exports of bell pepper to Japan. To achieve the objective of this study, a questionnaire survey was conducted among Japanese consumers and a multinomial logit model was used to estimate the preferences for origin of the products. The results of this paper show that Japanese consumers are much more preferable toward, and more inclined to purchase, their domestic bell pepper rather than foreign bell pepper. However, consumers who have previously consumed foreign bell pepper tend to purchase foreign bell pepper again. This finding raises optimistic prospects for Korean farmers’ exports of bell pepper to Japan even under the labeling system of origin of Japanese government as long as the rice is low enough. Another important factor for successful bell pepper exports to Japan is to improve the quality of the products.